Serafina

We have one female cat and two males. Our female, Serafina hates other cats and loves people. Her whole name is Serafina Pekala from Philip Pullman’s trilogy, “His Dark Materials”. She is named after the queen of the witch clan introduced in book 1, “The Golden Compass”, and her birthday is Oct. 31 (which is why we had to find a cool witch to name her after).

The thing that’s funny about Serafina is that she likes to have us wash her face. She will jump up on my lap (only when there are no other cats anywhere close), lick my fingers and then rub her face on my wet fingers.

Now, I normally hate when cats lick people, especially ME! But Serafina has a history that caused me to not mind so much. We got her from the humane society about a year and a half ago when we were getting kittens for the girls for Christmas. She was a bit over a year old and was so beautiful (she’s a blue), soft and loving.

Turns out that she was found on the street, half starved at 8 months old with a litter of kittens. She went into foster care with her kittens, who were all adopted out once they were weaned. Shortly before she was supposed to go to the humane society, an abandoned litter of kittens came in. One was so sick they didn’t think it would make it, but Serafina nursed it until it was strong enough to be adopted (wouldn’t nurse any of the others, just the sick one).

So Serafina went to the humane society and was adopted out really quickly to an older woman. Serafina is prone to eye infections, sneezing and stuff and the woman who adopted her was afraid that she would catch Serafina’s eye infection in the only good eye she had (impossible, but that was her fear), so she returned Serafina (living in fear is such a sad way to live!). Serafina had been there for so long when we met her, her former foster mom was worried she wasn’t going to get adopted and actually put together a stocking of goodies to go home with her.

She has always hated the two kittens and has been pretty uncomfortable in our home. It took her six months to purr for us at home, or even to sit in our laps. I’m sure it was partly the pesky kittens, and partly her traumatic beginnings of being homeless, having a home, and being returned. I can’t help but wonder if she thought she would be returned yet again – she had had so many homes. So I’m thrilled that she finds pleasure in interacting with us, and I’m willing to be a little grossed out to help her find her pleasure.

Another really weird thing about her is that she loves going to the vet – I think mostly because she gets us all to herself and she gets to sit in a lovely window seat and watch the birds come and go from the bird feeders that our vet has placed right outside each of her three exam rooms. She purrs and purrs when we are there. She is so relaxed and happy at the vet – makes it really easy for our vet to examine her.

This makes me wonder what people’s stories are and how I can find compassion in view of things people do that I find weird. What is their story, and how do I find out without being nosy?

Hmmmm…